Tom Aspinall’s dad and coach has taken a swipe at the UFC’s handling of his interim title announcement.
However, he stopped short of labelling the incident ‘pathetic’ in a scathing rant aimed at the promotion.
Aspinall’s dad has slammed the UFC’s handling of his title announcementGetty Andy Aspinall, centre, says the news was handled in the ‘worst way’GettyAspinall became the third undisputed English champion in UFC history on Saturday night following Jon Jones’ retirement.
His ascension from interim champion was confirmed by Dana White during his post-fight press conference at UFC Baku.
The 32-year-old had been in the dark about the decision until moments before the announcement.
Meanwhile, his dad and head coach Andy Aspinall has revealed that he also found out around the same time.
Andy has now spoken for the first time about the weekend’s revelation, which came 19 months after his son clinched the interim belt.
Speaking to Uncrowned, he revealed: “I found out from Tom.
“At the same time Tom was calling me to tell me that Hunter [Campbell] had told him, Hunter text me saying, ‘Dana [White] has just announced that Tom is the champ’ — which was the same message he had sent Tom.
“I sent a message back to Hunter saying, ‘I can’t think of a worse way you could have done it’.
“I just think it’s, I don’t know if pathetic is the word — I just feel they didn’t think about it.
“For me, the heavyweight championship of an organisation is quite a big thing and I don’t think Tom deserved to find out at a press conference in the middle of the night.”
White confirmed Aspinall as the undisputed heavyweight champion on SaturdayGetty Jones’ retirement was also announced during the UFC Baku press conferenceGettyAspinall continued: “I can’t think of a worse way to do it, maybe if they had woken us up to tell us it would’ve been worse.
“We just happened to be awake at the time. It’s poor man management of Jones and Tom. I like the personnel at the UFC, but for me, they just don’t do things right sometimes.
“Of course it’s a massively successful business, but I think something like that deserved more thought after everything we’ve been through with this.”
The move comes close to two years on from Aspinall’s 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 in November 2023.
He followed up his interim title triumph with a successful defence against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester last July.
That rematch lasted just a minute as Aspinall extended his knockout streak to three and his UFC record to 8-1.
However, he has not fought since as his wait for a mouth-watering clash with Jones dragged on.
The former two-weight champion’s retirement may have seen Aspinall become the undisputed heavyweight king but his first defence fight is yet to be announced.
Brazilian Jailton Almeida, who is fifth in the UFC’s heavyweight rankings, has previously called him out.
No.1 contender Ciryl Gane is also not yet booked having won his last bout in December.
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